The terms of The Higher Education Copying Accord (HECA)
have created a range of access and interpretative problems
for UK librarians and academics. In The Netherlands,
however, its Open University is working on a solution to
some of the copyright/access problems we face here. A
leading Dutch copyright expert on a new standard agreement
for academic researchers will be coming to London next week
to explain how their new system works. All those interested
in copyright, access, and cost dilemmas in the higher and
further education sectors are invited to attend this
session.

Title of the presentation: A standard agreement for
academic researchers: a salvation for the Dutch university?

Speaker: Wilma Mossink, Legal Advisor and Educational
Copyright Specialist, The Open University of The
Netherlands

Date and Time: Friday 10 December, 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon.

Location: The Franklin-Wilkins Building of Kings College
London (formerly Cornwall House), Stamford Street, London
(across from Waterloo Station and opposite Imax Cinema).
(http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/maa/sc.html)

Admission charge: £2.50 (to cover room rental)

Here is a brief synopsis of the "Dutch solution" to the
copyright/access issue:

Under Dutch law, universities are owners of copyright in
works produced by academics during the course of their
employment. But, in practice, academic authors initially
hold copyright in their own work and then assign it to
publishers; publishers usually demand that they hold all
rights and the assigning of copyright and other rights is
often required as a condition of publication. As a result,
if universities want to use the works of their employees,
for which they have paid already(in salaries), the
universities have to pay again, not only for using, but
also for copying the work. For use of works in electronic
databases it gets even more complicated.

In the Netherlands, the Open University has come up with a
new standard agreement between the author and the publisher
in which the author does not grant all rights to the
publisher; universities retain the right to use the works
of their employees (made in the course of their employment)
for research and educational purposes. Universities are
licensed by their employees to allow the free use by
students and researchers of work in electronic databases.
Academic researchers have to sign a license agreement as
part of their employment contract. Together the
universities will negotiate with the society of the Dutch
publishers about the terms of the standard agreement.